The Ultimate List of Things to Buy For Your Wedding

When planning your own wedding it is important to keep track of the many little bits and pieces. Even the best wedding planners can overlook a few items until the last moment, when it may be too late. With that in mind, here is my guide to the ultimate list of things to buy for your wedding day.

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BRIDAL ATTIRE

1) Bridal Veil / Hair Accessory

I ended up wearing a fingertip length drop veil for my wedding, but now wonder if I should have worn a floor length veil instead. I strongly suggest choosing your veil and hair accessory long before your wedding day so that you know exactly which one you want to wear.

Try on the veil a few times throughout the process, take photos wearing it with your gown, and get a feel for how you will wear your hair. Only then will you know for sure which veil accessory is right for you, giving yourself plenty of time to purchase a different one.

​Just like your bridal veil and hair accessories, bridal jewelry should be chosen long before the wedding day!

Knowing what goes best with your dress is worthy of a whole other post. Some gowns with a high neckline might only call for chandelier earrings, whereas a sweetheart neckline looks stunning sans earrings, but rather a chunky necklace.

Do you homework. For example, Etsy has a large selection of stunning bridal jewelry and reasonably priced costume jewelry.

A bridal emergency kit is likely not high on your bridal buy radar. Rather, its a safety precaution in case something unexpected happens on your wedding day.

For example, a button can fall off last minute, you forgot to brush your teeth after rushing out the door into the waiting limo, or perhaps your wedding dress turns out to be a lot hotter than you thought and you would love to add a little extra deodorant.

A Bridal Emergency Kit will come in handy for just those moments.

4) Lingerie

A proper lingerie themed bridal shower or bachelorette party is a great way to receive some lovely lingerie pieces. Otherwise, don’t forget to buy a piece of lingerie (online or in store) for you and your special somebody.

A sexy little chemise from BHLDN bridal boutique is the perfect honeymoon negligee that is pretty and looks good on all body types.

Whether you are going to your final dress fitting or the big day has finally arrived and you need to transport your gown to the ceremony, a sturdy garment bag helps keeep your white dress looking pristine.

Check out L&L’s ultimate garment bag as well as other picks here at this article.

WEDDING CEREMONY DECOR

As one of my best girl friends reminded me on the eve of my first wedding anniversary, “This time last year, I was on your computer room floor making wedding signs using gold pens and a black sharpie!”

Direction signs could include:

Parking signs

Ceremony direction signs

Restrooms signs

Directions towards the reception

TIP

To save you and/or your friends from scrambling the night before the wedding, be sure to either buy or DIY your wedding direction signs long before the big day. That way everyone can enjoy the rehearsal dinner and evening without gold pen all over their fingers.

An Easel comes in handy for all sorts of signs such as welcome signs, seating charts, or menus. You can always use easels at your wedding reception. Before you go out and buy easels, however, I suggest the beg, borrow or steal from friends or family approach!

If you need to buy any easels for your wedding, try ones similar to below fromDisplays2go.

Not a necessity, but a fun way to let your guest know who’s who in the wedding party, along with a schedule of events. Another cute idea if you are marrying in the hot summer sun are wedding program fans. We guarantee your guests will appreciate them!

Usually the first few rows at the wedding ceremony are reserved for family members. At my wedding, I accidentally created too many signs for the number of people in my small family. I ended up having an overflow of guests standing near the back when there was perfectly good seating at the front!

Learn from my mistake: calculate and create reserved seating signs for your family long before your wedding day.

A unity candle is a more recent tradition that is sometimes performed to symbolize the joining together of the two families into one united family. More often, a unity candle symbolizes the union of two individuals becoming one in commitment.

We chose not to have a ring bearer for our wedding ceremony, mainly because we didn’t know any younger boys to give the position to at the time. The next best thing is to find a pretty ring box and utilize the best man.

WEDDING RECEPTION DECOR

A card box or basket is a good idea to hold any loose cards. Although one would hope everyone attending your wedding is honest, leaving easy-to-snatch envelopes full of money in plain view on a table is never a good thing. You are better off enclosing cards in a box or cage.

Once all the gifts are collected, make sure you have a trusted friend or family member lock them away in a safe spot.

Make sure you have a pretty pen for both the wedding ceremony and guestbook.

27) Seating Chart

A sit down wedding reception with assigned seating calls for a seating chart to guide guests to their proper table. Professionally designed custom seating charts are a luxurious finishing touch that adds to the overall look and feel of your wedding reception.

Some place cards come in a tent fold design and can hold themselves up. If the ones you choose are just a flat card, you might want to consider a holder. These simple yet effective wood place card stands will do just the trick. Etsy has loads of different choices!

Whether or not you need menu cards is a question to ask your caterer. If all the guests will have the same thing for dinner or you are having a buffet, menu cards won’t be necessary.

However, if you are planning a sit down meal with options, guests will have an easier time selecting what they want if menu cards are available. Plus, any servers will thank you for not having to repeat themselves over and over to each table.

As the bride and groom, you won’t be able to be everywhere at once to celebrate with all your guests. Place disposable cameras on each reception table so that guests can capture moments throughout the night. Or create your own photo booth and provide a Polaroid camera. Relive all the fun and crazy moments from your wedding reception for years to come.

I don’t know about you, but crying bucket loads on my wedding day was to be expected — and I did!

With a ball of tissues in hand, it turned out I was pretty good at fighting through the tears. For those bride’s who need an extra tissue to wipe away happy tears, this personalised handkerchief would make a good gift.

It isn’t necessary, but the unofficial gift exchange on the morning of the wedding between the bride and groom can be a sweet surprise. It doesn’t have to be an expensive gift – a keepsake token like a love letter or something silly like these socks.

Hi Rita,
Thanks for your comment and congrats on your engagement! I now there is a lot to think about when planning a wedding. One question for you: What is your biggest wedding challenge right now?
Cheers,
Andrew

I really like the ideas of having a unique guest book to sign at my wedding. Having guest sign the matting of a wedding picture would be a fun idea. I also like your tip to make sure the pens are pretty too. Every little detail makes a difference! Thanks for these ideas!

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